The BGN News Archive

March 12, 2018

The Gala
Photo:Blowfish

It's been a while since we hit a Rock'n'Roll Trivia
night. Joanie Lindstrom called the team together and
we went to the Sinclair on Tuesday. The room is just the right size
for this, not too big or too small. There were 12 teams going for the
prizes. It was noisy like a bar usually is. Erin Amar and
Brett Milano (photo to the right), the game hosts,
had a animated rapport and it was very upbeat time.

We thought we knew a lot but when those questions came sometimes you
felt like a dummy. Other teams were doing better. Time and time again
they seemed to get the obscure answer. We felt like Newman and Redford
in the Sundance Kid looking at the dogged posse hunting them
and asking, “Who
are those guys?” We ended up tied for fourth.

The Sinclair was a suitable setting for the night with food and some
free samples of whiskey going around. The club must have been happy
with a good drinking and eating bunch. The Trivia night looked like
it is a successful endeavor all around. The next Trivia night is at
the Sinclair again on April 3. FB
page

The only thing wrong with Trivia – it’s not music. To remedy
that, it was off to O’Briens to catch
Crimespree. They had just started. About 30 to 40 people in
the club.

Crimespree
Photo:Blowfish

Crimespree plays hardcore and things that might as
well be hardcore. It's all high energy and fast. We’ve seen Crimespree
a few times since that first exposure at the thirdThrash’n’Bang
Christmas Party in December of 2016. So, we were not surprised
by lead man Chester Timmins verbal onslaught between
songs. It’s his own thing, say Verbal Hardcore. In one rant he
put down so-called punk groups that were selling shirts in Walmart.
If they did that they are not punk in any way, he claimed. He pointed
out the Misfits and said to anyone video taping to send his challenge
to Danzig; that he will have a ‘fist fight’ with him anytime
because he is not punk. Another time he made everyone put up their arm
and give a thumbs up. For no reason, he admitted. He made sure that
everyone including the bartender had performed the deed before he would
play the next song. In the video below he stated that everyone under
50 had to dance. We had a senior pass on that dictate. It was crazy
fun and all happening fast as the next song crashed in.

Crimespree
Photo:Blowfish

They did a burning cover of Bad Religion’s "We're Only Gonna
Die From Our Own Arrogance" – video below. All their originals
were just as good. They weren’t mindlessly bashing it out either;
the songs had rhythm and tempo changes. They were a well rehearsed unit.
The drummer was notable. His drums cut through the guitar wash with
some rapid fills and constant thundering attack. Check out his distinctive
rat-tat attack on the second video below.

There were a handful of moshers. A well spent two club Tuesday.

Friday night was the Digital Release Party (that’s where we're
at now people) for The Hi End's new album, Before
You Run Out Of Luck, at the Midway. Getting there at 9pm we saw
people all over the place and streaming in and out of the door. The
Hippie Hour went long and that clogged things up. Even after a time,
however, the club never cleared out, there were just a lot of people
out on Friday.

The Gala
Photo:Blowfish

Openers were The Gala who we saw two
weeks ago at Great Scotts. They are comparably new but were a full
blown phenomenon on stage. Like Crimepree at O’Briens this group
gave you the music and then they gave you a show. The music had pop/garage/new
wave influences that sat on a punky foundation. There was a little roller
rink organ. The guitarist played regular progressions but put his distinctive
staccato edge on it as he made them sync in rhythmically. You can hear
that on their single “Touch
Me” . The drummer was right there with him with a varying
attack that kept things interesting.

The Gala
Photo:Blowfish

But you might not have noticed all that because singer Emily
Doran was in a total mayhem tantrum on stage. Like last time
she had the shaggy coat on that you can’t stop looking at but
she shed that. Then it was a long t-shirt that said, “I’m
not strutting, I’m sore.” . Then she shed that for a white
cut out bathing suit (we think) and black bra. The best thing was that
it was not form over substance – she is a good singer who did
a good amount of screaming too. She had the whole package going. She
was a whirlwind on stage. At the end she was exhausted and ended up
lying in front of the drums for a long while. She had given everything
she had. It was hard not to be impressed with that commitment.

This is most definitely a group to check out. They're doing a lot
of shows in Boston and the North Shore so check for them in our listings.
Their website is The
Gala

We know about the Hi End from following Curt
Florczak from Greg Allen’s Fridge Religion. Curt’s
guitar playing there made us curious as to where he came from and what
his story was. So we got a few answers from him in a short interview
and it’s here =The
Curt Florczak Interview.

The Hi End
Photo:Blowfish

Now we know that the Hi End overall sound is close to his first high
profile group The Movie Rat. That was one raging group. The
Hi End has a hard rock 70’s sound. Some of the riffs
they play verge on metal but they never get there, they keep it more
straight rock. They have another guitarist besides Curt that gives the
group a roar on the bottom end.

The Hi End
Photo:Blowfish

In the middle is Johnny Carlevale.(Now sans beard
thankfully!) He’s been in a few groups and can handle a few genres.
He’s amazing in his rockabilly incarnations. We saw him last at
the Midway in May of 2016 with his Johnny Carlevale All Stars
and that was a group with lots of brass. With the Hi End he seems to
write a lot of the songs also. He gives you a short nugget about the
song before it begins and is the focus of the group.

It was back to the Midway on Saturday afternoon for
another full club of people. This time for a punk bill lined up by Bob
Cenci.

Punk Band
Photo:Blowfish

Bob has renamed his group as simply –Punk Band.
That’s to the point. There was one personnel change; they now
have Bob Furapples the FU’s
drummer on board. Anyone that’s seen the FU’s know the animal
that is Bob. A lot of the time he is the band leader. He makes sure
the set moves along with fast count offs leaving no time between songs.
He is always pushing the speed making band members keep up with him.
He did all that with Punk Band. That tightened up a set that was always
filled with memorable songs. They did some of our favorites like “Scumbag”
and “I’m Offended”. Cenci has written
some punk songs that deal with current issues and that is something
we need. It helps that they have melodies that you want to sing yourself
immediately after.

Bob says that they may record some of the songs soon. We’re
dying for that to happen.

The Humanoids
Photo:Blowfish

The Humanoids are mining metal for drama, style and
pure joy. You could say they are playing it for laughs but you can tell
they love metal way too much to belittle it. It’s a lot like what
Hey Zeus! is doing.

The killer was singer Johnny Machine's high pitched pig squeal. It
sums the whole business up in one moment. He's got both the vibrato
and the falsetto down! He knows it’s great so he does it all the
time. Hear it in the video below. He also has a deep voice that he used
to deliver the dark tales and Satan stories that populate their lyrics.
Mr. B, on drums kept a constant thundering multi-drum assault going
as the guitarists crouched to deliver shredding leads and dive bomb
whammy loads.

They have funny on-stage patter and generally are having the time
of their lives up there. And that flows over to the audience as well.
Richie Parsons was there, especially to see The Humanoids
which is one of his favorite bands.

The Lost Riots
Photo:Blowfish

The Lost Riots are from New Haven, Connecticut. They
make it to Boston about once a year. They center on English punk and
Oi and they dress the part with studded jackets. Unfortunately they
had technical problems; they blew the bass head and that messed up their
momentum. The lead singer also loves to run around and didn’t
like the raised stage too much. He eventually did jump off a few times.

The group seemed to get it all together near the end of the set. At
that point they played their best song, “We’re
Getting Old”. That’s something we can relate to. They
also did “Dead
Boys” and that was a highlight too.

The F.U.'s
Photo:Blowfish

Then it was time for the headliners - The FU’s.

John Sox was sharp and intense at center stage. His
story is secured at this point as one of Boston’s legendary front
men. The line up of the FU’s is always changing but they always
deliver a powerful set which means that John is also a capable bandleader.
That’s a whole other talent. As mentioned earlier, Bob
Furapples was on drums. Once you see him, you know how the
set will go.

The F.U.'s
Photo:Blowfish

They put in "Young, Fast, Iranians” early in the set. We
don’t know exactly why that song has the power it has but with
it every band member seems to dig in and give it their all. It never
fails to rile up the crowd either. They continued the usual fast and
furious set. At some point, we realized that there had been no moshing
for the whole afternoon! Strange!

The set ended and the audience demanded an encore so the band came
back. For the three song encore there was finally some moshing. It was
led by Cenci who mock leapt off the three foot stage
as if it was a story high. It made for a lot of fun up there in front
of the stage. They played Grand Funk's "American Band" and
threw in “Green Berets” as an ender.

Wow! That was a full four band bash! Kudos to Cenci for lining up such
a great show.

We could have stayed there because the evening show was worthy too
with Black Helicopter in the line up. But we had seen
seven bands on three days and that was good for us.

Saturday John Keegan was down in the basement at the Cantab for the line up of
The Billy Connors Project, The Stigmatics, Kid Gulliver and Club Linehan
A Go Go, Click the photo below for the story and the photos....

And one more thing this week in the clubs. Mark Davis
went to Sally O'Brien's on Thursday to see Asa Brebner
and has a few shots of that. Click the photo below.

And in other news.....

Sue Safton was at the Rock'n'Roll Trivia night earlier
this week. She just celebrated her 35th Anniversary of her show Aural
Fixation on WMBR which started on March 3, 1983. The show’s
mix of garage and garage punk was a format that Little Steven Van Zant
later had good luck with. She was a DJ for a short while before MBR
too. At Trivia Night one of the questions was; "How many members
of U2 are Irish?" Not a trick question, only two are. Sue knew
that because after the legendary Paradise
show on December 3, 1980 she drove the band to the Rat to see LaPeste
and Pastiche. On the way she conversationally asked, ‘so, you’re
Irish?” and they told her only two were. Sue's anniversary show
will still be in the WMBR Archives for another week. Check
it out here

We had a few posts on Facebook this week but there is one that became
an inspiring thread. Thinking of National Woman’s Day
we posted a short salute to the women who've been part of Boston Punk.
We just named a few knowing we couldn’t name them all. Others
were moved to add more names and that snowballed. Now the thread has
a more comprehensive list of names. There’s women from all eras
and in all parts of the scene. One great thing about the punk scene
is that the fans are as much part and parcel of it as the musicians.
We urge you take a look and to add more Boston Punk scene women if you
don’t see them posted. Check
it out here.

Highsnobiety has a page on the Boston Hardcore scene
including a 10 minute audio "mini-documentary" featuring major
players from the Boston hardcore era showing a more nuanced account
of how the scene influenced a generation of youth." Check
it out here.

John Hovorka (Turbines, 2x4’s) has a new album
Peace Bridge released on
Bandcamp. It’s acoustic and low key electric. $5.00 - 11 songs!!

Lowbudget Records has done another silent film project.
They up the quality of the print and add new music by Tim Casey
in his Doctor X guise. Their Nosferatu and Phantom of the
Opera redos made you appreciate them anew. This time he's done
a real fave of ours; Blood of the Poet by Cocteau. Some of
those film’s images will stick in your mind forever. He also has
Un Chein Andalou and Eadweard Muybridge’s Motion
Studies set to Philip Glass/David Byrne music from “The Photographer”.
Heck, if we had talent we would do things like that.
Check out the trailer here . It’s $16.99 - paying via Paypal.
This is the sort of DIY we should all be supporting.

Muck and the Mires were in Q Division
studios this last week recording a new album.

Mr.Airplane Man has a new album on the verge of release
called Jacaranda Blue. You can hear one track
called “I’m in Love” on their
Bandcamp page. They're on the bill with Lez Zeppelin, and Barrence
Whitfield and the Savages at the Middle East down on March 23. Link
below in the gig listing.

We spotted a Nervous Eaters gig in Maximum Rocknroll
Magazine. They're playing the Safari Room in Brooklyn on June 2.
Tix
etc here. The Proletariat are there on May 10.

and.....This month Maximum Rocknroll Magazine
has declared that they “will no long review ANY artist who promotes
their music via streaming media. Including YOU!” They are talking
about Bandcamp, Reverbnation, YouTube and Soundcloud. That seemed shocking
when we first read it because that includes just every group we know.

It reminds us of when things started in 1975. No corporate radio station
or record label was open to punk. We did it ourselves. Anti corporate
was a stance, a dividing line between punk and the old rock that was
boring us to death. This is a great reminder of where we are and maybe
what we should be doing.

A lot only exists on Facebook. The photos, comments, and videos there
are between ‘friends’ under the oversight of Facebook. If
you are on these sites (and we are too) you are connected to all their
choices and policies, which you don’t even know about. That’s
why we like the Boston Groupie News being an independent website under
no domain except us and not dependent on advertising. We know nothing
will change fast but it’s a wake up call on where everything stands
now. And just to make a point; you can upload a sound file to your own
website.

The last print copy of the NME came out this
week. No more print, online only! That’s an era gone by. A lot
of us used to hit the kiosk in Harvard Square regularly picking up NME
and Sounds Magazine.

A film bio of Robert Mapplethorpe called Mapplethorpe
will premier at the Tribeca Film Festival (April 18-29). Produced by
Eliza Dushku. Matt Smith (Dr. Who) will play Mapplethorpe and Marianne
Rendon will play Patti Smith. You can read
more about the film here.

There's going to be a MC5 Kick Out The Jams 50th Anniversary
Tour with Wayne Kramer and members of Soundgarden, Fugazi and
King’s X. No dates have been released yet but the tour will start
"in September, culminating with a hometown show at the Fillmore
Detroit on 10/27." Read
more about the tour on Stereogum.

In addition to the tour, Wayne Kramer’s memoir The
Hard Stuff: Dope, Crime, The MC5, And My Life Of Impossibilities
is being published. The book will focus on his post-MC5 life, which,
according to a press release, has involved “a federal prison term,
addiction struggles that lasted decades, reconnection with his long-absent
father, finding the path to sobriety at 50, and, incredibly, first-time
fatherhood at the ripe age of 65.” The book is out 8/14 and can
be pre-ordered here.

The Damned got a little respect in the latest issue
of Bass Player Magazine. The magazine transcribes the bass
part to Ball Room Blitz. The Damned were in that short section of time
with Lemmy as their bass player. So, it’s Lemmy’s playing.
They describe this in the transcription: “ …a thundering
downward glissando in bar four…subsequently underpins the various
D-flavored chords of the intro with lines based on the D-minor pentatonic
scale, occasionaly linking C’s and D’s via C# -a chromatic
device he used throughout the track.” Well ain’t that “Neat,
Neat, Neat” ?

And lastly...Here’s an item for a the fashion conscious punk.
A jeweled Skull Watch from Ross & Simons. That
will only set you back $111.75. (and that's with a 25% discount we might
add) You can buy
it here!!

March 16 (Friday) Bonecrusher,
The Welch Boys, The Blue Bloods, The Ice Cold Killers at The
Midway

March 16 (Friday) Richie
Ramones, Marko and the Bruisers, Musclecah,The Pathetics
at Ralph's Diner in Wistah

March 17 (Saturday)A Crash Course For The Ravers 1pm to
4pm on 91.5FM Medford. has Little Billy Lost & The Cocks Of
The Walk & a visit by Trick Wallace

March 17 (Saturday) Mickey
Rickshaw, Brunt of It, and OC45 St. Paddy's
Day Party at Bill Bar Boston on Landsdown St 6:30- midnight

March 17 (Saturday) St Patrick's
Day RocknRoll show with Beantown Boozehounds, State of the Union,
Natty D's, The Imposers and Worm at Thirsty
First: Tavern & Grill Lowell, MA
FB page for more i nfo

And further out we have.......

March 18 (Sunday) State
of the Union, The New Frustrations, Billy Connors Project, Far Above
The Ground at The Midway- this is a day time show 4Pm

March 18 (Sunday) A Sunday Mess
Around at The Plough but this time in the golden-agers time slot of
4-6 PM.The usual Messers will play along with Special Guests -Chris
Brat (Duck and Cover) And dropping in from Rochester, NY Dave
Harrison (The Voodoo Dolls, The Nines)

March 24 (Saturday) Raibard,
John Powhida International Airport, Little Billy Lost & The Cocks
of The Walk and The I Want You at The Midway

March 24 (Saturday) See
This World's CD Release Party for Sign of the Times
at the Launch Pad at Norwood Space Center, also on the bill Neighborhood
Shit and The Pint Killers.It's a 6-11PM show-
FB page

March 24 (Saturday) Michael
Kane & The Morning Afters, Reverend Dan, Pull it Together
at The 13th Floor Music Lounge in Florence, MA

May 19 (Saturday) The Knock
Ups, State of the Union, The New Frustrations, The Imposers at
The Midway- early show 4-8Pm

May 19 (Saturday) Celebrate Sue (Miniachello's) 50th Birthday!!
at Sally O'Brien's celebrate Sue with friends and family and food and
drink and cake and, of course, MUSIC! A stellar lineup of bands and
special guests is in store. More details to come on that, although a
few surprises will be kept under wraps. FB
page for updates

May 20 (Sunday) It time again for
Slimedog's 22nd Birthday Party. The line up is Kermit’s
Finger, The Lost Riots, The Revilers, Uncle Spud,
and Time Out Timmy. Linnea Svedka
will play between sets. All that and FREE PIZZA too! Starts at 4PM.

May 20 (Sunday) The Proletariat
are at Alchemy in Providence RI FB
page

May 27 (Sunday) The Four
Point Restraints, The Guilloteenagers, Surprise Party, American Affairal
(Jess & Tom of Man Trouble) at ZuZu

June 2 (Saturday)Sheer
Terror, Nothing But Enemies, Brando, American War Machine at
The Middle east - this is an early show 5:30-10:30

June 13 (Wednesday) doing their
G.G. ALLIN 25th Death Anniversary Tour the Murder Junkies
are at Cafe Nine in New Haven CT FB
page

June 14 (Thursday)The
Dickies (40th Year Anniversary) w/ The Queers
at The MIddle East FB page for
tix etc

June 16 (Saturday)GLiDER
Live on Radio 91.5FM CrashCourse for the Ravers! wmfo.org
stream 1-4PM